Kids with diabetes face difficult challenges on Halloween. While their friends are trading candy corn for skittles and gorging on sugary treats overflowing from pumpkin buckets and pillow cases, children with diabetes must exercise caution and refrain from indulging on too many Halloween treats. However, Halloween can still be a fun and enjoyable holiday for children with diabetes, and with a little creativity and supervision, they too can indulge in the gooey sweetness of Halloween treats and festivities.
Many Diabetes websites suggest several "tricks" for helping to put the treat back in your child's Halloween. However, before implementing these special tricks, you must do a little planning and a fair amount of educating. Charles Fox recommends working with schools to create a Fall curriculum that is sensitive to and raises awareness about diabetes:
"Halloween is often a school-sponsored event. Requests should be made to the school to make this holiday a means of educating children across the school setting that there are alternative ways to celebrate. With a little creativity, the lesson can be one about disability awareness, health issues and the national epidemic of type 2 diabetes and obesity. Ideally, such discussions and celebrations would be school or district-wide so as not single out a particular class or stigmatize an individual. In addition, the child's IEP or 504 plan should specify the needed accommodations to allow an inclusive celebration for all children. While such items may seem to be common sense, school districts can become very obstinate over mundane issues such as holiday celebrations. It’s better to be explicit and pre-planned than to have children excluded or left out when big days in school come up. Remember, IEPs and 504 plans cover both in-class and after-hours school-sponsored activities."
If you know your child is going to a Halloween party, or if your child's class is throwing a party, plan ahead by adjusting your child's insulin for the extra sweets and sending him/her with alternative or sugar-free treats (e.g., sugar-free Jello Jigglers in spooky shapes and low carb chocolate candies from the Hershey's Solution Center). Check your child's blood sugar more regularly and encourage exercise and activity to improve blood sugar control. Also, help party hosts to be sensitive to your child's needs and suggest party activities unrelated to food.
Don Heser, father of Dana, 16, who was diagnosed at age 5, says: "Over the years we have educated the extended family and friends about preparing foods that use sugar substitutes and are low in fats. We also make sure that there are plenty of fresh vegetables around. We have started several new traditions that do not focus on food at all. There are also puzzles to work on at one part of the room. We have group games--like 'Catch Phrase' and 'Brain Warp'--that are active and welcome newcomers. This takes place of people eating and then resting on the couch. Sometimes the house gets pretty wild! --Testimonial from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International Website.
Don't lose sight of the fact that Halloween is more about fun than it is about candy, and in order to help your child from feeling excluded on Halloween, be sure to spread a sugar-free mindset to others. Emphasize the spirit of Halloween by focusing on decorations, costumes, and pumpkin carving competitions. Perhaps your child and his/her friends can even turn your home into a haunted house! Also, consider passing out alternative treats to all your Halloween trick-or-treaters (e.g., fake vampire teeth, temporary tattoos, slime balls, etc.). Kids often enjoy these treats more, because toys last longer than candy.
Emily Spitzer suggests, "We order lots of things like pencils, gooey eyeballs, cool non-candy stuff so that our treats are different. Kids love getting our things since they get overloaded with candy. When Becca was very young she would give us her candy and we'd exchange it for a gift. Another thing we did was make Halloween a fun holiday before the actual event--fancy pumpkin carving, lots of decorations around the house, in and out, attention to home-made costumes, so that the trick-or-treating was not as important a part of it all." -- Testimonial from the JDRF Halloween Survival Guide.
Older children often find more joy in money than food. Thus, some parents will trade a nickel, dime, or quarter for every piece of candy their child collects. You can either give your child the money, or you can use the money to buy your child a special, secret gift. Be sure not to tell all your neighbors about your contract with your child, or you may find they are tricking you by giving your child more candy than most, just to see you fork over the extra cash. Consider putting a monetary limit on the amount of money your child will make from Halloween treats, and encourage your child to trade in the rest of his/her candy for money to donate to a Diabetes foundation of your choice.
Kathy Slater shares, "Our daughter Courtney's favorite part of Halloween was dressing in costume. We incorporated that into a 'Beggar's Night activity: We sent out decorative letters to our neighbors telling them that, in lieu of candy, we would be collecting food for the local emergency food pantry on 'Beggar's Night'. Our family distributed the flyers, which included our contact information should they have questions and it was signed, 'The Slater Goblins.' We informed the food pantry of what we would be doing and they gave us receipts we could use to give to those who donated... The response was so overwhelming that we had to use a car to collect the food rather than the little red wagon she was pulling. The excitement of getting dressed up and going door-to-door just like the other kids, the continual rewards of praise she received at each home, plus the satisfaction of seeing her wagon, and ultimately the car, filled with groceries for those in need wiped out any wishes for sweet treats. My daughter is in college now and I still have fond memories of those Halloween nights that brought us so much closer as a family." -- Testimonial from the JDRF Halloween Survival Guide.
Finally, don't forget that your child can indulge in some Halloween treats. Check the carb contents of different candies and set limits for how much your child can have. Many fun size packs and individual candy bars do not list nutritional information on the packaging, so be sure to check out the Insulin Pumpers Carblist, Hershey's Website (you must click on each candy individually to research the nutritional information), the M&M's product site, the Nestle Chocolate and Confectionery Directory, and other candy company websites to find sugar and carbohydrate information for popular Halloween candies. Freeze the bulk of the your child's candy to prevent it from spoiling, to keep it out of your child's room or the kitchen, and to help stretch the trick-or-treat booty into next Halloween.
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